Dancing in The Dark
by Skwiziks
Summary: After an unfortunate encounter leaves Jiraiya concerned for Tsunade's mental well-being he decides to cheer her up. Inspired by the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. One-shot.


A/N: Well, after six or seven years of not posting anything, I guess you could say I'm back. That is of course only if you consider a small one-shot as a return move. Consider this a capricious beginning. I have more ideas. Massive ideas. I just lack the confidence to go through with them. Reviews are always appreciated.

_Spoiler Warning: If you haven't been reading the manga past the time-skip or watching Shippuuden you will find spoilers for some of the beginning portion of the plot._

Standard disclaimer of ownership: I have no ownership of the Naruto series. I'm just playing in Kishimoto's sandbox.

Dancing in the Dark

Jiraiya had begun his afternoon earlier like he did all others, with a healthy dose of voyeurism. He had been going from hot spring to hot spring taking notes for his novels when he came upon an anomaly. The hot spring before him was apparently empty. This was curious because all of the other baths at this establishment had been almost overflowing with bathers and from the looks of it this bath wasn't in any sort of disrepair. Jiraiya took a more thorough look to find he could make out the form of only one occupant. His interest piqued, he maneuvered his body to get a better look.

What he saw astounded him. The woman before him was as if a goddess given flesh. She was tall but not towering. The edges of her body formed a robust yet delicate feminine curve that so many women strived for but few attained. Her bust was ample to the point that any larger and her proportions would be off. She was in a word, perfect. The woman turned slowly toward him. Jiraiya held his breath in anticipation of what he believed could only be the most heavenly face he had ever laid eyes on. What he saw froze the blood in his veins.

The woman in the bath was not a goddess given flesh, far from it. Jiraiya knew her very well. The face belonged to none other than Tsunade, his old teammate. He was so gripped with fear he couldn't even breathe. If she saw him in this position he would be dead. There would be nothing he could say that would make her not brutally murder him in ten seconds flat. He would be doomed.

After enough of the fear passed for Jiraiya to regain his composure he began to slowly move away from the hole he was peeping from. Unfortunately, this was enough to alert Tsunade to his position.

"Who's there? Come out now and I might go easy on you!" She shouted.

Jiraiya picked up the pace, cursing mentally as he began to run. He could hear Tsunade yelling behind him as she broke through the fence, heading in his direction. He ran as fast as he could, darting through the underbrush hoping to lose Tsunade in the thickness of the forest. He quickly realized that his hopes were all for nothing. He could still hear the woman behind him and much to his chagrin, she was gaining on him.

The forest suddenly ended for Jiraiya and he found himself in a large clearing. He went into a desperate sprint only to find that the woman chasing him was much quicker than he was. In a matter of moments Jiraiya felt a fist collide with the back of his head, resulting in him tumbling end over end before coming to an abrupt stop on his face. He rolled over only to find a foot stomped on his chest, rooting him in place.

"You!" Tsunade said with a glare.

"Hey there Hime-chan, how's it going?" Jiyaira replied with a forced smile on his face.

"Oh not much except that I just found my old teamate spying on me in the baths!" Tsunade accentuated the end of her accusation by stomping on his chest.

"Oof! I wasn't spying on you! Well, ok I wasn't trying to spy on you. You just happened to be there! I was only trying to spy on all the other women in the..."

Jiraiya noticed that Tsunade's glare only intesified as he was talking.

"...saying it like that doesn't really work in my favor does it?"

Tsunade replied by beginning to viciously beat him. After about ten seconds passed Jiraiya felt a wave of relief. If she had been meaning to kill him he would have been dead by now. The beating would end eventually. His injuries, though massive, would heal and the pain of them would fade away. He was about to allow himself to relax into the rhythm of Tsunade's punches when they suddenly stopped. Jiyaira nervously opened his eyes to see Tsunade standing over him with her arms slack against her side.

"Jiraiya. Just stop it, ok?" Tsunade said.

She then turned around and walked away. Jiraiya laid there dumbfounded for a moment before getting up and hobbling in the oppossite direction. He was confused, very confused, but for now he was going to get away and get cleaned up before he thought hard about it.

Which is what brought him to the current time. He was sitting above the Hokage Monument looking down at the city. The pain was only a dull ache at this point and he had made sure his wounds wouldn't be infected. Now that things had calmed down he began to reflect on why he had escaped retribution. There were things in the way Tsunade had been before she left that gave him clues. She was standing with a slight slouch, her eyes were dim and glazed over and her voice had a hollow ring to it that he hadn't heard in quite some time. In fact, it hadn't been since Dan and Iwaki had died that he had seen her like that.

This immediately made him concerned but as he gazed at the Hokage tower he reasoned that Tsunade would be far more likely to cause him further harm than to actually let him try to comfort her. With a sigh Jiraiya opened up the current novel he was working on and began to write. There was no point in letting hard earned research go to waste.

Hours passed. Day turned to night and Jiraiya had continued writing under the soft light of a lantern he carried with him. He had gotten into an unusually effective writing groove and the time had passed quickly. He continued writing until his stomach reminded him how much time had passed since his last meal. Jiraiya looked over the work he had done so far and decided it was more than enough for one day. He stood up to the nostalgic sound of most of his bones cracking. He straightened up into a stretch and yawned.

As his body began to settle he noticed a peculiar light higher in the city than normal. The light was coming from the Hokage's office at the top of the tower. He found himself puzzled at what Tsunade would be doing up this late when there wasn't a villiage wide emergency. His concern from earlier came flooding back and he resolved to at least go try and cheer her up, further injuries be damned. Jiraiya moved toward the tower, stopping only to pick up a few items that he knew would wear down Tsunade's defenses enough to give him the chance to talk to her.

Jiraiya slipped past the outside guards and ascended the walls of the Hokage tower. He paused below the window for a moment to listen and hearing nothing unusual, hopped into Tsunade's office. She was sitting her chair, a pile of half-finished paperwork strewn about her desk. Her Hokage regalia was tossed on the floor by some of the bookshelves and he could see an untouched plate of food sitting on a table next to it. He also noticed that as soon as he entered Tsunade's body had tensed significantly. Jiraiya's breath caught in his throat for the second time today as he waited for her reply.

"You have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't punch you so hard you'll land in Kumogakure." Tsunade said flatly.

"I brought sake?"

Tsunade slowly turned to face Jiraiya who held up a large bottle in front of him. She examined it, noting that it contained at least a few liters of liquor and it was of high quality. Without even looking at him Tsunade held out her arm and motioned for Jiraiya to come closer. Said Toad Sage cautiously stepped closer and held out the bottle. In a flash of motion Tsunade grabbed the bottle, removed the lid and took a large drink before setting it down.

"Thanks. You can go now." Tsunade said.

Jiraiya blinked in confusion and remained standing where he was.

"Is there something you want Jiraiya?"

"I just wanted to spend some time with an old teamate." Jiraiya replied.

Tsunade turned back to him and gave him an inquisitive glare.

"And I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier."

Tsunade's glare intensified.

"And I brought yakitori? It's still warm!" Jiraiya said with a nervous chuckle.

The Hokage's gaze lingered on Jiraiya for a few more a seconds before she sighed and turned back to her desk.

"Fine, whatever. Just put it on the desk."

Jiraiya set the chicken dish on the desk and pulled up a chair. The duo sat in silence. Tsunade took occasional drinks of the sake and slowly ate the yakitori. Jiraiya watched. The expression he had seen on her face earlier hadn't left, she still had the glazed over eyes and a slack look on her face. He observed her working through her paperwork in a lazy, inattentive manner as if she was doing some menial household chore. After several minutes of sitting still Jiraiya decided it was time to speak up.

"So Hime-chan, how have things been?"

"Fine." Tsunade replied without looking up.

"Nothing unusual happen lately?"

"Well if you count The Kazekage getting abducted, killed, rescued and then resurrected as being unusual then yes, something unusual has happened recently."

"I heard about that. Wasn't Naruto and your apprentice involved in the combat?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade froze for only an instant but to Jiraiya's trained eyes he noticed the question had hit a nerve.

"Yes, they were. They performed admirably." Tsunade said.

"Did any of them get seriously injured? You and I both know how much that Naruto can get into rough spots." Jiraiya said with a laugh.

"Nothing too serious. They're both fine."

Jiraiya stared at the woman in front of him, dumbfounded. Normally she would have said more than just a couple of sentences. She would have at least brought up the medical nature of their injuries and how they were treated, she was the world's best medic-nin! It was in her blood to say such things! Something had to be getting to her worse than simple depression.

"Tsunade." Jiraiya said.

For the first time since he had sat down Tsunade looked up at him. There was confusion written on her face.

"What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked.

"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong, I'm just having a bad day." Tsunade replied as she looked back down at her desk.

"Bullshit."

Tsunade's head quickly snapped back up to give the man in front of her an angry look. Jiraiya ignored it and continued.

"I know it's bullshit because even if you were having a bad day I'd still be lying in the hospital for at least the next two weeks due to massive physical trauma from peeping on you earlier! And yet, here I am, in almost perfect condition. If that wasn't enough, you're sitting here doing paperwork at midnight when you'd normally be passed out drunk! So tell me, what the hell is wrong!?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Tsunade replied quietly as she took an especially long swig from the bottle of sake.

"That's why I'm here, because you don't want to talk about it."

Tsunade looked back at her desk and began drinking at a faster pace, completely ignoring Jiraiya.

"Come on, of everyone in this entire villiage I'm the one who's known you personally the longest. We've known each other for decades! If anybody's going to be able to understand what's going on it's going to be me."

Tsunade became comepletely still, the bottle of sake resting on the desk in front her. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of Jiraiya catching his breath. After a couple of minutes had passed Tsunade finally spoke.

"I'm afraid." She whispered.

"What are you afraid of?"

Tsunade stayed silent for a while before replying.

"Akatsuki and Naruto."

Jiraiya understood immediately what she meant.

"We both know Naruto can take care of himself. And if he gets in a bind, he's got plenty of friends to support him."

Tsunade slowly shook her head.

"I don't know if it's going to be enough. If two Akatsuki members could infiltrate Sunagakure and capture The Kazekage without being caught think of what they could do here. It would be even easier to snatch him while he's out on a mission. I guess I just feel useless."

"You're not useless! You're the goddamn Godaime Hokage!" Jiraiya shouted.

"That's exactly why I'm useless!" Tsunade shouted back as she stood up.

Jiraiya was taken aback by her sudden outburst. Tsunade slowly got control of her breathing and sat back down.

"I came back here to be Hokage because of him. I truly believed him when he said he would become Hokage and I still believe it. But here I am, day in and day out, sitting at a desk doing mind numbing paperwork and assigning missions! I should be able to be out in the field, helping him if I need to. And if things get any worse he'll wind up captured and dead before I even get word of it happening."

"You can't just follow him around all the time. You've got duties here and besides, I don't think he'd appreciate the effort. You know how thickheaded the gaki is." Jiraiya said.

"But I have to do something! I don't want him to die without me helping just like Dan and Iwaki did! I don't know if I could take it again."

Jiraiya huffed and rose up to his full height.

"Then do something! Get him training, create special strike teams, make sure he's escorted at all times! You're the leader of this villiage and have a wide array of powers at your disposal to make sure that Naruto is well protected. Sitting around sulking isn't going to help anyone, especially Naruto."

Tsunade looked up at Jiraiya and met his gaze for a long moment before looking back down and sighing.

"I guess you're right. It's just hard to collect myself with so much else going on."

Jiraiya turned and walked over to the wall. When he got there he began fiddling with something in the shelves.

"What are you doing?" Tsunade asked.

"Just getting something going that'll cheer you up and let you collect yourself." Jiraiya replied.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow and started walking over to see what he was up to when a quiet sound began emanating from where Jiraiya was standing. It quickly got louder and Tsunade paused her steps. It was a song. It took her a moment to recognize it but once she did her face became filled with surprised.

"I haven't heard this for over thirty years. Where'd you find it?" Tsunade said.

"I happened to stumble across it while I was looking over my record collection." Jiraiya replied.

Tsunade was mesmerized. It was a favorite song of hers back when she and Jiraiya were in her youth. She could remember listening to it far more often than any other music at the time. Through the ups and downs of her life she had all but forgotten it. It was a slow, lilting melody that spoke of the singer's thoughts on an especially rainy day.

Tsunade felt a hand grasp her own and looked up to see Jiraiya wearing a small smile. Jiraiya figured from the amount of red on his friend's face she was either about to confess her undying love for him or she was quite taken by the alcohol. The Toad Sage guessed it was the latter.

"Dance with me?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade looked at him with a blank expression.

"What?"

"Dance with me." He repeated.

"You're not trying anything perverted are you?" Tsunade asked the man next to her.

Jiraiya let out a boisterous laugh.

"If you had truly believed I was intending anything perverted I would already be in the hospital."

"I suppose that's true. But still, why should I dance with you of all people?" Tsunade asked.

"Because you've had enough to drink to think it's not that bad of a decision. That and we both know it'll make you feel better."

Tsunade allowed him a slight chuckle.

"Alright fine, you win. We'll dance."

Jiraiya took Tsunade lightly in his arms and they began to move slowly around the room. Jiraiya was a surprisingly good dancer but when Tsunade thought about it, for someone who spent most of their waking life obsessed with the intricacies of wooing the fairer sex, knowing how to dance was a neccesary skill. They danced through a few of the tracks off of the record before Tsunade sat back down. They reminisced about their old experiences as a team, the time spent beyond that and all the various amusing stories they could remember. Jiraiya worked hard to make Tsunade cheer up and was rewarded with a few genuine smiles and a couple of solid laughs. They could both see though, that Tsunade was getting rather sleepy. She adjusted herself to a more comfortable sitting position and laid her head down on the desk.

"Going to sleep now?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yup. Thanks for the liquor and the food and the dancing. Oh and for knocking some sense into me."

"You're welcome. Thanks for not brutally injuring me tonight." Jiraiya said.

"No problem, anytime. G'night Jiraiya."

It was only a matter of seconds before Tsunade's snoring could be heard reverberating through the room. Jiraiya leaned down and placed a kiss on Tsunade's forehead.

"Goodnight Hime-chan." Jiraiya whispered before exiting through the window.

Shizune found Tsunade in the same position the next morning. She was about to yell at her for the thousandth time about how excessive drinking on the job was incredibly irresponsible until she noticed the look on the Hokage's face. She bore a peaceful expression and an almost unnoticeable smile on her face. Shizune hadn't seen such an expression on her friend's face in a long time. She slowly backed out of the room and shut the door. Duty would have to wait a little longer than usual today.


End file.
